One of the most prominent celebrities of the mania was George Hudson, of York. He was a man of some local repute in that city when the line between Leeds and York was projected. His views as to railways were then extremely moderate, and his main object in joining the undertaking was to secure for York the advantages of the best railway communication. The company was not very prosperous at first, and during the years 1840 and 1841 the shares had greatly sunk in value. Mr. Alderman Meek, the first chairman, having retired, Mr. Hudson was elected in his stead, and he very shortly contrived to pay improved dividends to the proprietors, who asked no questions. Desiring to extend the field of his operations, he proceeded to lease the Leeds and Selby Railway at five per cent. That line had hitherto been a losing concern; so its owners readily struck a bargain with Mr. Hudson, and sounded his praises in all directions. He increased the dividends on the York and North Midland shares to ten per cent., and began to be cited as the model of a railway chairman.
He next interested himself in the North Midland Railway, where he appeared in the character of a reformer of abuses. The North Midland shares also had gone to a heavy discount, and the shareholders were accordingly desirous of securing his services. They elected him a director. His bustling, pushing, persevering character gave him an influential position at the board, and he soon pushed the old members from their stools. He labored hard, at much personal inconvenience, to help the concern out of its difficulties, and he succeeded. The new directors, recognizing his power, elected him their chairman.
Railways revived in 1842, and public confidence in them as profitable investments was gradually increasing. Mr. Hudson had the benefit of this growing prosperity. The dividends in his lines improved, and the shares rose in value. The Lord-mayor of York began to be quoted as one of the most capable of railway directors. Stimulated by his success and encouraged by his followers, he struck out or supported many new projects—a line to Scarborough, a line to Bradford, lines in the Midland districts, and lines to connect York with Newcastle and Edinburg. He was elected chairman of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway; and when—in order to complete the continuity of the main line of communication—it was found necessary to secure the Durham junction, which was an important link in the chain, he and George Stephenson boldly purchased that railway between them, at the price of £88,500. It was an exceedingly fortunate purchase for the company, to whom it was worth double the money. The act, though not strictly legal, proved successful in the issue, and was much lauded. Thus encouraged, Mr. Hudson proceeded to buy the Brandling Junction line for £500,000 in his own name—an operation at the time regarded as equally favorable, though he was afterward charged with appropriating 1600 of the shares created for the purchase, when worth £21 premium each. The Great North of England line being completed, Mr. Hudson had thus secured the entire line of communication from York to Newcastle, and the route was opened to the public in June, 1844. On that occasion Newcastle eulogized Mr. Hudson in its choicest local eloquence, and he was pronounced to be the greatest benefactor the district had ever known.
The adulation which followed Mr. Hudson would have intoxicated a stronger and more self-denying man. He was pronounced the man of the age, and hailed as "the Railway King." The highest test by which the shareholders judged him was the dividends that he paid, though subsequent events proved that these dividends were in many cases delusive, intended only "to make things pleasant." The policy, however, had its effect. The shares in all the lines of which he was chairman went to a premium, and then arose the temptation to create new shares in branch and extension lines, often worthless, which were issued at a premium also. Thus he shortly found himself chairman of nearly 600 miles of railway, extending from Rugby to Newcastle, and at the head of numerous new projects, by means of which paper-wealth could be created as it were at pleasure. He held in his own hands almost the entire administrative power of the companies over which he presided: he was chairman, board, manager, and all. His admirers for the time, inspired sometimes by gratitude for past favors, but oftener by the expectation of favors to come, supported him in all his measures. At the meetings of the companies, if any suspicious shareholder ventured to put a question about the accounts, he was snubbed by the chair and hissed by the proprietors. The Railway King was voted praises, testimonials, and surplus shares alike liberally, and scarcely a word against him could find a hearing. He was equally popular outside the circle of railway proprietors. His entertainments at Albert Gate were crowded by sycophants, many of them titled; and he went his rounds of visits among the peerage like a prince.
Of course Mr. Hudson was a great authority on railway questions in Parliament, to which the burgesses of Sunderland had sent him. His experience of railways, still little understood, though the subject of so much legislation, gave value and weight to his opinions, and in many respects he was a useful member. During the first years of his membership he was chiefly occupied in passing the railway bills in which he was more particularly interested; and in the session of 1845, when he was at the height of his power, it was triumphantly said of him that "he walked quietly through Parliament with some sixteen railway bills under his arm."
One of these bills, however, was the subject of a severe contest—we mean that empowering the construction of the railway from Newcastle to Berwick. It was almost the only bill in which George Stephenson was concerned that year. Mr. Hudson displayed great energy in supporting the measure, and he worked hard to insure its success both in and out of Parliament; but he himself attributed the chief merit to Stephenson. He accordingly suggested to the shareholders that they should present the engineer with some fitting testimonial in recognition of his services. Indeed, a Stephenson Testimonial had long been spoken of, and a committee was formed for raising subscriptions for the purpose as early as the year 1839. Mr. Hudson now revived the subject, and appealed to the Newcastle and Darlington, the Midland, and the York and North Midland Companies, who unanimously adopted the resolutions which he proposed to them amid "loud applause," but there the matter ended.
The Hudson Testimonial was a much more taking thing, for Hudson had it in his power to allot shares (selling at a premium) to his adulators. But Stephenson pretended to fill no man's pocket with premiums; he was no creator of shares, and could not therefore work upon shareholders' gratitude for "favors to come." The proposed testimonial to him accordingly ended with resolutions and speeches. The York, Newcastle, and Berwick Board—in other words, Mr. Hudson—did indeed mark their sense of the "great obligations" which they were under to George Stephenson for helping to carry their bill through Parliament by making him an allotment of thirty of the new shares authorized by the act. But, as afterward appeared, the chairman had at the same time appropriated to himself not fewer than 10,894 of the same shares, the premiums on which were then worth, in the market, about £145,000. This shabby manner of acknowledging the gratitude of the company to their engineer was strongly resented by Stephenson at the time, and a coolness took place between him and Hudson which was never wholly removed, though they afterward shook hands, and Stephenson declared that all was forgotten.
Mr. Hudson's brief reign drew to a close. The saturnalia of 1845 was followed by the usual reaction. Shares went down faster than they had gone up; the holders of them hastened to sell in order to avoid payment of the calls, and many found themselves ruined. Then came repentance, and a sudden return to virtue. The betting man, who, temporarily abandoning the turf for the share-market, had played his heaviest stake and lost; the merchant who had left his business, and the doctor who had neglected his patients, to gamble in railway stock and been ruined; the penniless knaves and schemers who had speculated so recklessly and gained so little; the titled and fashionable people, who had bowed themselves so low before the idol of the day, and found themselves deceived and "done;" the credulous small capitalists, who, dazzled by premiums, had invested their all in railway shares, and now saw themselves stripped of every thing, were grievously enraged, and looked about them for a victim. In this temper were shareholders when, at a railway meeting in York, some pertinent questions were put to the Railway King. His replies were not satisfactory, and the questions were pushed home. Mr. Hudson became confused. Angry voices rose in the meeting. A committee of investigation was appointed. The golden calf was found to be of brass, and hurled down, Hudson's own toadies and sycophants eagerly joining the chorus of popular indignation. Similar proceedings shortly after followed at the meetings of other companies, and the bubbles having by that time burst, the Railway Mania thus came to an ignominious end.
While the mania was at its height in England, railways were also being extended abroad, and George Stephenson continued to be invited to give the directors of foreign undertakings the benefit of his advice. One of the most agreeable of his excursions with that object was his third visit to Belgium in 1845. His special purpose was to examine the proposed line of the Sambre and Meuse Railway, for which a concession had been granted by the Belgian Legislature. Arrived on the ground, he went carefully over the entire length of the proposed line, by Couvins, through the Forest of Ardennes, to Rocroi, across the French frontier, examining the bearing of the coal-field, the slate and marble quarries, and the numerous iron-mines in existence between the Sambre and the Meuse, as well as carefully exploring the ravines which extended through the district, in order to satisfy himself that the best possible route had been selected. Stephenson was delighted with the novelty of the journey, the beauty of the scenery, and the industry of the population. His companions were entertained by his ample and varied stores of practical information on all subjects, and his conversation was full of reminiscences of his youth, on which he always delighted to dwell when in the society of his more intimate friends. The journey was varied by a visit to the coal-mines near Jemappe, where Stephenson examined with interest the mode adopted by the Belgian miners of draining the pits, inspecting their engines and brakeing machines, so familiar to him in early life.
The engineers of Belgium took the opportunity of the engineer's visit to invite him to a magnificent banquet at Brussels. The Public Hall, in which they entertained him, was gayly decorated with flags, prominent among which was the Union Jack, in honor of their distinguished guest. A handsome marble pedestal, ornamented with his bust crowned with laurels, stood at one end of the room. The chair was occupied by M. Massui, the Chief Director of the National Railways of Belgium; and the most eminent scientific men of the kingdom were present. Their reception of the "father of railways" was of the most enthusiastic description. Stephenson was greatly pleased with the entertainment. Not the least interesting incident of the evening was his observing, when the dinner was about half over, the model of a locomotive engine placed upon the centre table, under a triumphal arch. Turning suddenly to his friend Sopwith, he exclaimed, "Do you see the 'Rocket?'" It was, indeed, the model of that celebrated locomotive; and the engineer prized the delicate compliment thus paid him perhaps more than all the encomiums of the evening.